Displays

The LG G3 brings the first QHD screen from a big name maker. QHD or Quad HD has four times the number of pixels of a 720p screen, 1,440 x 2,560 to be exact. This means that even at 5.5", the screen still offers the whopping 534ppi pixel density.

5" 1080p screen vs. a 5.5" QHD monster

That may not sound like too much over the 441ppi of the HTC One (M8) and its 5" 1080p screen but there's a tangible difference in perception. Talking about sharpness here is probably meaningless - both screens are very sharp and individual pixels are impossible to distinguish.

That said, the LG G3 screen seems more vivid, it's hard to describe but you can spot the difference in person. Not that the HTC One (M8) screen looks bad, in fact there's a lot more to screen image quality than just pixel count.

Both screens manage around 570 nits of brightness at full blast, a very solid figure. The black levels on the LG G3 are higher than average for a flagship screen (0.40-0.50 nits), which drops the contrast ratio to less than 800:1.

The Super LCD3 on the HTC One (M8) on the other hand stays within the norm for blacks on an LCD and offers great 1256:1 contrast. The LG G2 was a king in this category with nearly 1500:1, thanks to good black levels and 670 nit white levels.

Display test

50% brightness

100% brightness

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

LG G3

0.14

109

763

0.72

570

789

Samsung Galaxy S5

0

274

∞

0

529

∞

Sony Xperia Z2

-

-

-

0.41

488

1195

Sony Xperia Z1

-

-

-

0.38

580

1513

Sony Xperia Z

-

-

-

0.70

492

705

Oppo Find 7a

0.33

280

842

0.68

580

852

Samsung Galaxy S4

0

201

∞

0

404

∞

HTC One (M8)

0.20

245

1219

0.46

577

1256

LG G2

0.10

149

1522

0.45

667

1495

HTC Butterfly S

0.15

165

1117

0.43

451

1044

Apple iPhone 5

0.13

200

1490

0.48

640

1320

Also, notice that the brightness slider is heavily skewed - at 50%, the display put out less than a fifth of its maximum brightness. The HTC One (M8) was at a little less than half.

Another area where the LG flagship suffered a setback is sunlight legibility. Granted, the reduction is fairly small, but there shouldn't have been any at all - this was a bit of a weak spot of the LG G2, one we were hoping the successor would do something about.

The HTC One (M8) is no champ here either, but it does beat the LG G2, G3 and Sony Xperia Z2. Strangely, it regressed slightly from its predecessor too (as did the Xperia Z2, what's going on with those new screens?).

Sunlight contrast ratio

Nokia 808 PureView4.698

Apple iPhone 53.997

Samsung Galaxy Note 33.997

Samsung Galaxy S53.549

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III3.419

Nokia Lumia 9253.402

Samsung I9505 Galaxy S43.352

Samsung Omnia W3.301

Samsung Galaxy S3.155

Samsung Galaxy S4 mini3.127

Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom3.118

Nokia N93.069

Samsung Galaxy Note2.970

Sony Xperia Z12.950

HTC One S2.901

BlackBerry Q102.856

Samsung Galaxy S II2.832

Samsung Galaxy S II Plus2.801

BlackBerry Z302.790

Huawei Ascend P12.655

Sony Xperia ZR2.672

Nokia Lumia 9002.562

HTC One Max2.537

Nokia Lumia 7202.512

HTC One2.504

Sony Xperia Z2.462

Samsung Galaxy S III mini2.422

HTC One (M8)2.371

Motorola RAZR i2.366

Samsung Galaxy Note II2.307

Oppo Find 7a2.279

Apple iPhone 4S2.269

HTC Desire 600 dual sim2.262

LG Nexus 52.228

HTC One X2.158

Nokia N82.144

Oppo Find 52.088

BlackBerry Z102.051

Apple iPhone 42.016

HTC One mini2.003

LG G21.976

Sony Ericsson Xperia ray1.955

Sony Xperia Z21.944

Samsung Galaxy Camera1.938

LG G Pro 21.922

HTC Butterfly1.873

Huawei Ascend P61.865

LG G31.820

Sony Xperia V1.792

Sony Xperia U1.758

Meizu MX31.754

Sony Xperia T2 Ultra1.740

LG Optimus 4X HD1.691

HTC One V1.685

BlackBerry Q51.682

LG Optimus Vu1.680

LG Optimus GJ1.666

HTC Desire V1.646

Samsung Galaxy Ace 31.622

Sony Xperia Z Ultra1.578

Samsung Galaxy Core1.563

LG Optimus G Pro1.552

LG Optimus 3D1.542

Samsung Galaxy Core LTE1.542

Nokia Asha 3021.537

Sony Xperia M1.473

Nokia Lumia 6101.432

Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo1.393

Gigabyte GSmart G13551.361

Samsung Galaxy Grand1.321

HTC Desire C1.300

Nokia Asha 5011.270

LG Optimus L71.269

LG Optimus L91.227

Meizu MX1.221

Sony Xperia E dual1.203

Samsung Galaxy Pocket1.180

Sony Xperia tipo1.166

Samsung Galaxy mini 21.114

Different viewing angles have virtually no effect on the image on both screens, but colors on the HTC One (M8) are slightly punchier than those on the LG G3.

The two screens are very different in terms of size too. The 5.5" screen of the LG G3 has 20% more surface area than the 5" screen of the HTC One (M8). This means you can fit more content and that difference grows even further if you zoom out a little (the extra pixels make tiny text more legible).

Winner: LG G3. We were disappointed by some of the characteristics of the display, the regression in contrast especially, plus, sunlight legibility should have improved rather than worsened. That said, it's hard to argue with the sheer amount of content you can fit on the humongous QHD screen.

The HTC One (M8) felt like the underdog coming in, certainly 5" 1080p are 2013 specs not 2014. Still, with good image quality thanks to the high contrast it's performance is more than good. The One (M8) might have even won this category if it was better in bright light.

Connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the two phones are very equal, mostly because they have just about every option under the sun.

That includes the standard 2G/3G connectivity in either GSM or CDMA flavor, plus 4G LTE on both. It's Cat. 4 LTE for up to 150Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink.

Local connectivity is even faster with dual-band Wi-Fi going up to 802.11ac, the latest current tech. There's also Bluetooth 4.0 for low-power connectivity to accessories and NFC for quick pairing and tags. Note that neither phone has an NFC manager app out of the box. The HTC One (M8) does not even have NFC in some regions to begin with.

The two have IR blasters on top to control home equipment and their respective apps both have the option to learn new control signals if you have hardware not available on the long lists of supported devices.

HTC's Remote control app has a cool feature that wakes the phone up as soon as you pick it up, so you don't have to unlock the phone each time you want to change the channel.

HTC Remote control app

LG's QRemote, however, has a richer database of devices and can control air conditioners too. It has an option to automatically pop up on your lockscreen and in your notification area when you are at home.

LG QRemote

The two flagship smartphones can also be the ones playing the video, not just controlling other players. Here the two differ - LG uses SlimPort, while HTC uses MHL. Both can be converted to regular HDMI with the proper converter or just a microUSB-to-HDMI cable if your TV supports the standard.

Note that if you are to get an adapter, SlimPort doesn't require plugging a power source into the adapter itself, unlike MHL.

DLNA and Miracast are available for wireless streaming of multimedia too.

Going back to the microUSB ports for a second, they are both the predominant USB 2.0 kind, no USB 3.0 here.

For positioning, the two support GPS and GLONASS but the HTC One (M8) also has a barometer, which will help to speed up the first position lock.

Winner: Tie. Unless you demand SlimPort or think the faster lock times with a barometer are vital, there's really nothing to separate the LG G3 and HTC One (M8) in this section.